The wild jungles and ancient ruins of the Tomb Raider games series remain a wonderful and intriguing setting for Lara Croft’s globe-trotting adventures.
Well past 25 years old, the Tomb Raider series still garners massive sales and attention for their action, environmental puzzle solving, challenging platforming, and charismatic heroine. Lara herself also lives on as one of gaming’s most iconic characters.
While new games will surely make their way out, going back through the catalog of Tomb Raider games can still yield some great times.
1. Rise of the Tomb Raider
As the culmination of everything the Tomb Raider series had built towards for decades, Rise of the Tomb Raider remains widely considered the peak of the series. Tight gameplay, a wonderful adventure story, and lots of explorable locations round this game out as a top-tier action-adventure game.
Rise of the Tomb Raider follows the 2013 reboot with incremental gameplay improvements and a much larger series of explorable locations for Lara to shoot, climb, and sneak her way through. Moreover, the origin story that began in the previous game shows Lara becoming the fearless plunderer gamers know today.
2. Tomb Raider (2013)
2013’s bold Tomb Raider reboot stands tall as one of the best action-adventure games of the last 20 years. By borrowing the cinematic flair from the Uncharted games (which borrowed ideas from older Tomb Raiders) and combining that with what Crystal Dynamics learned from the previous trilogy, this game has it all.
Here, players meet a Lara who has never been on a major expedition, let alone killed another human. Extreme times call for extreme measures, though. As the events of the game unfold, Lara meets and exceeds her own limitations to become the iconic Tomb Raider that stars in all the previous games. The game works so well that it makes sense that its underpinning systems would justify an entire origin trilogy.
3. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
Underrated by many, Shadow of the Tomb Raider expands on the exploration and platforming puzzles from Rise of the Tomb Raider while adding more variety to the stealth. This makes it, at the very least, a worthy follow-up to the previous game.
While the story may fall short of the intrigue provided by the previous two games, just about every other element sees improvement. The finale to the Tomb Raider origin trilogy remains a fantastic game that tilts the focus a smidge toward the environmental discovery of the original games, while providing incremental improvements to the basics. Despite having a forgettable villain and a less coherent plot, Tomb Raider fans should not count this game out.
4. Tomb Raider: Underworld
As the capstone of the second Tomb Raider games trilogy, Underworld gets a lot of things right. Lara controls better here than ever up to this point, and the explorable levels feel massive in comparison to previous games. Lara herself also emerges as a darker, more interesting character in this game.
While the unwieldy camera of the previous games remains unresolved, it seems mitigated somewhat. All the while, the combat and platforming feel quite polished for their time and hold up quite well overall.
5. Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Let’s face it; the original Tomb Raider does not hold up well at all. The graphics, controls, and just about every other aspect have become off-putting to most gamers.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary rectifies this with a total overhaul of the original game. The level designs and basic layouts remain the same for the most part, but the updated controls make those locations more fun to explore. Tomb Raider: Anniversary plays more like Tomb Raider: Legend and Underworld with PS2-era 3D controls that feel much more natural. The visuals also convey the game’s various locations in a more compelling way with more detail and better lighting. This remains a superior way to go if one wants to experience the original game’s ideas.
6. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
As Core Design’s fourth Tomb Raider game, The Last Revelation makes a solid attempt to wrap up Lara’s timeline within the franchise. While her implied death would not end up sticking, Lara’s fourth entry would prove a fantastic achievement overall.
Combining what Core Design learned from the previous three games and leveraging the full potential of the PS1, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation worked out well with large levels and well-tuned action. Some fatigue on the part of fans and the developer alike brought the reception down a bit at first, but over time, Tomb Raider fans have warmed to this one. Debatably the best game of the original arc, true fans must try this one out.
7. Lara Croft And The Temple of Osiris
The Temple of Osiris holds up well as a sharp-looking sequel to the original spin-off Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light. The isometric look and simple gameplay work just as well here as they did with the previous entry.
With refined action, a much more fantastical story about defeating Egyptian gods, and a continued focus on the gameplay that worked so well in Guardian of Light, this remains one of the better games in the franchise. Fans of the original games might find the different flavor of gameplay a bridge too far, but it did manage to carve out its own audience and grow the franchise.
8. Tomb Raider 3
The third mainline entry in the series often comes up during Tomb Raider game discussions. The game benefits from Core Design’s increased knowledge about making games for the PS1 and an improved version of the game engine from which the first two games emerged.
Lara controls a little smoother and shoots with better accuracy, and the game’s performance remains far superior to the first two. The controls still feel like the game takes place on a grid of some sort, but to a lesser extent. Improved optimization, more vibrant lighting, and better-designed locales make Tomb Raider 3 feel like a much bigger leap than its predecessor on a technical level. It also just feels like a better game overall.
9. Tomb Raider: Legend
After Lara’s ill-fated PS2 debut, Angel of Darkness, received poor reviews, Crystal Dynamics went back to the drawing board to reboot the series. Tomb Raider: Legend made a fresh start for the series.
This game got almost everything right. The art style resembles a logical evolution of the original few games and sets the right tone. Yet, Crystal Dynamics added lots of modern ideas to go along with it, like a modern orchestral score and creative ways for Lara to use the environment against her enemies in addition to just shooting at them. This game also feels much bigger compared to the previous titles, with multiple different locations around the world that feel large and distinct.
This game did more than make up for the last entry; it started a whole new foundation for the next decade of games to build on.
10. Lara Croft And The Guardian of Light
Though jeered at during its announcement and lead-up to release, Lara Croft And The Guardian of Light turned out pretty awesome, all things considered. Controlling Lara and her Mayan warrior friend, this game revolves around cooperating to solve puzzles and deal with hazards of all sorts.
This element gets elevated when played with friends, which felt like a daring addition component at the time, as the series had always been known for its single-player nature. Overall, this game works as a fun diversion from the typical franchise trappings. Purists might feel inclined to skip this one, but they shouldn’t.
11. Tomb Raider: The Prophecy
Tomb Raider: The Prophecy remains an acquired taste for many, but the game delivers some impressive visuals and gameplay considering the time in which it released and the limitations of the Gameboy Advance. With a new team behind the entry came new ideas.
An isometric viewpoint changed things up in a big way and made this one feel quite different from the PS1 and Dreamcast titles. A bigger focus on simplistic shooting and jumping also gave it a more arcadey feel. The game has not aged all that well, but it remains a reasonable choice for fans looking for a lighter Lara Croft experience on the go.
12. Tomb Raider: Chronicles
This title occupies a strange space in the Tomb Raider games mythos.
As the fifth game in the original series, it continues to let players do very Tomb Raider-y things on the PS1 with Core Designs at the helm once again. Yet, with Lara’s insinuated death at the end of the last title, the story here feels a bit clunky as it hops around from flashbacks and untold portions of Lara’s life.
Despite lacking impact, it does manage to cobble together a cohesive experience as an anthology of sorts. Gameplay still works fine too, despite feeling a little dated in 2000. The Dreamcast version feels superior, as the newer hardware affords the game more headroom to run better. Overall, Tomb Raider: Chronicles remains a decent, albeit somewhat forgettable Tomb Raider game.
13. Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness
Most consider this game a misstep in the Tomb Raider legacy, and in many respects, it can still feel that way. When compared to the previous Tomb Raider games, this title seems rushed with its buggy camera and litany of other technical issues.
Still, Angel Of Darkness has some strong points, with valiant attempts at implementing stealth mechanics, more traversal options, and actual hand-to-hand combat. As Lara’s first appearance on the PlayStation 2, the game also looks quite nice compared to its predecessors. Stories would surface sometime after the release of the game’s many setbacks during development, which give context to the state of its final build. Still, despite it missing the mark in a few areas, Angel Of Darkness feels like a game worth playing to, if nothing else, better understand the lineage of the series.
